1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a piezoelectric Inkjet printer, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus to check a state of a piezoelectric inkjet head, by which information corresponding to an amount of deformation of a piezoelectric element included in the piezoelectric inkjet head can be easily obtained.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inkjet printers are widely used to form or print data or image on a print medium. Such Inkjet printers print images by spraying ink drops on demand. Printers having piezoelectric inkjet heads among the inkjet printers include a piezoelectric element in an ink chamber. The piezoelectric inkjet heads jet ink through nozzles according to characteristics of the piezoelectric element that is deformed when a voltage is applied thereto. Piezoelectric printing technology can very finely control the spraying of ink by adjusting a voltage applied to a piezoelectric element.
It is necessary to determine whether the piezoelectric inkjet head operates properly during manufacturing or using a printer having the piezoelectric Inkjet head. For example, a jetting state of ink drops is directly measured by photographing the ink drops jetted from nozzles or indirectly measured by measuring the displacement of the piezoelectric element using a laser vibrometer. Accordingly, conventional printers having piezoelectric Inkjet heads require special equipment in order to check the operations of piezoelectric Inkjet heads.